Gone Too Soon
by MysticPuma
Summary: Hieronymous Grabiner remembers another life… He's been given a second chance. So why wasn't she?


**AN: So I wrote this a couple of months ago, and I thought I might as well chuck it on here XD It's kind of random in the sense that I combined two fandoms that have probably never been put together XD I had a strange idea, it got written... Simple as *shrug***

**I based it off the song "Gone Too Soon" by Simple Plan, go give it a listen, it's beautiful and I've basically decided it is Rumple's theme song (certainly through series 1 and 2)... **

**This is very AU, but I hope you enjoy it x**

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><p><strong><span>Gone Too Soon<span>**

_Hieronymous Grabiner remembers another life… He's been given a second chance. So why wasn't she?_

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><p><em>Hey there now… Where'd you go?<em>

Hieronymous Grabiner sat in his office surrounded by his books on spells and strange artefacts from forgotten lands of the Otherworld. He loved his job, being honest with himself. Teaching people how to use Magic safely and smartly was what made him happy… Well… Happy was perhaps a stretch.

_You left me here, so unexpected._

This world was nothing like he had expected… He'd been given new memories, new traumas. Once or twice he had woken up from a dream of a familiar face being torn apart by goblins of the otherworld… But that wasn't what had happened.

_You changed my life._

Violet. Her name was Violet… No. That was the name in his fake memories, the memories he told Potsdam to remind her why he never wanted her matchmaking, and why her various attempts had failed. Somehow, when he'd left his home, he had regained his father… Or _a_ Father at least. This man looked nothing like his Father, but apparently was his Father… It was terribly confusing. But all it had done to him was give him hope…

Perhaps here he would get them both back… Perhaps they'd get another chance…

_I hope you know._

No. He'd searched for years for signs of either of them. His son was not here… And she was dead. For his name was not Hieronymous Grabiner, though he had adopted it as though it were his true name. It was too painful to keep the name of the man who had failed so many of the people he cared about…

_'Cause now I'm lost, so unprotected…_

Hieronymous Grabiner was who he was now. He would live a life cautioning against the power magic wielded and protecting the students he was trusted with… Maybe Hieronymous Grabiner could succeed where Rumplestiltskin had failed.

_In the blink of an eye…_

But it would never dull the pain. He missed Bae… He missed Belle… They were gone, and it was his fault. His obsession with magic had pushed them both away, and he would never see either of them again.

_I never got to say goodbye._

Sometimes, when he closed his eyes… He was back in his little cottage in the village… Or in the dark castle. He would see their faces, smiling at him, eyes bright and kind… And sometimes a tear would slip from his eye.

_Like a shooting star, flying across the room._

To his students, he was cruel, doling out punishments as frequently as he felt he was able. He would think in his head, but never say, _magic always comes at a price._ And this was his price. A life alone. That was okay. He didn't want anyone if it wasn't them…

_So fast, so far… You were gone too soon._

He'd been at Iris Academy for four years, and the new Freshmen were arriving. Ordinarily, he would stay inside and watch the swaths of students as they flooded through the gates. Today, he felt restless. He tried reading, burying himself in books on advanced Blue Magic, but all he could see was Belle's face, sat in the library of his castle, reading a book in silence, while he watched from the doorway.

_You're part of me._

His life in America had always felt a little empty, like a piece of him was missing… Somehow, the emptiness felt greater today. Bigger than the chip of the cup he found himself cradling in his hands. At least he'd got to keep that.

_And I'll never be the same here without you._

Potsdam didn't understand the significance of the cup. _It belonged to Violet._ He had snapped at her once, when he got tired of her asking and after that she hadn't asked again. It hadn't belonged to Violet. Violet wasn't real. It had belonged to him, and Belle had broken it… _It's just a cup._ He had said… It was so much more than that now.

_You were always there, like a shining light._

He took a deep breath and returned the cup to its protected spot in his cupboard, next to a folded green shawl.

He quietly pulled his cloak on and placed his hat on his head. _Time to be the beast…_ he thought wryly, his eyes falling on a tattered copy of _Beauty And The Beast_ that he had read so many times that many of the pages were faded.

_On my darkest days, you were there to guide me._

It was, like his father, something he hadn't expected to receive in this world. A book that chronicled a happier version of his time with Belle… A version he wished had been true. A version where they got their happy ending. He trailed a finger over the spine of the broken book as he trained himself into teacher-mode.

_Oh, I miss you now._

He didn't know why, but he needed to walk around and distract himself from the pain that pounded on his chest, today more than normal. So he pushed the door open, and Rumplestiltskin slipped into his subconscious, along with his loved ones. Tucking his record book under his arm, he strode out, her face still in his mind.

_I wish you could see just how much your memory will always mean to me._

The sun was warm on his human skin. He closed his eyes for a short moment, enjoying the feeling of the light breeze as it ruffled his hair, before he solidified his stern expression and began to move through the crowds of freshmen.

_Shine on. Shine on._

As he was walking, he watched the excited and nervous new students. There were plenty of wildseeds, obvious from the combination of fear and wonder in their eyes. In his fake memories, Violet had been a wildseed… Scared and disbelieving of the dangers of magic. Magic had stolen her.

Suddenly, someone bumped into him.

_On to a better place._

He huffed in irritation as he stepped back to look at the girl who hadn't be looking where she was going. She dropped a piece of paper; her welcome letter. As it fluttered off in the breeze, she looked up and panicked, noticing it was a professor she had bumped into. His own eyes widened, and his mouth went dry.

_Shine on. Shine on._

Her eyes… Her hair… It was her. He could hardly breathe, it couldn't be true… He'd given up hope of ever seeing those eyes again. _Belle…_ But he knew that wasn't her name here… He ignored her stuttered apology as he flicked through his record book, searching for her face.

_Will never be the same._

He found it. "Rose French. Wildseed." He said, sternly. He had to keep his mask up. This was not his Belle… She didn't know him. He didn't know her.

But as the year began, he noticed that she _was_ Belle... She read a lot, and loved his lessons. She passed her exams with flying colours, never got a detention in her entire school career. She became the class president and worked with him rather than William Danson.

When Potsdam gave her usual Christmas gift, he thought of her… and of Bae. This time, instead of silence, he felt a warmth, like a hand wrapping around his for a moment as he thought of her, before he severed the connection and thought of his lost son.

And he started to think that perhaps he wasn't so cursed after all.

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><p><strong>So there it is... Hope you liked it, lemme know what you think xx<strong>


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